Before we bake Tartine’s wonderful Country Loaf, we have to make our leaven. The leaven is the stuff that’s going to officially go into your loaves to make them rise. In other words, it’s your yeast.
Making the leaven is pretty similar to what you’ve been doing for the past week during feedings, only the proportions are going to be different and more precise here and you’re going to let it ferment for a shorter period of time. Do not forget this key step: set aside at least a tablespoon of your starter, before making the leaven. Feed that tablespoon the way you’ve been feeding your starter all along (look back to Step 2 if you need a reminder). You also have the option of moving the excess starter to the fridge for 7 days before feeding it a couple times to prepare it for baking. You can find details on this in a VERY old post if you need a little more help.
To bake this particular loaf, you’re going to need to do some scheduling before you make your leaven. Remember at the beginning when I told you that Robertson simplifies sourdough starter? That is true. The process for actually baking the bread is another story, however. If you’re new to baking, or if you’re used to baking “normal” loaves at home, this is going to significantly step up your game. For me, this process works best when I plan it for 2 nights and 1 day, or 2 days and 1 night. Here is an example of how it might work, followed by a shorter scheduling option if you’re doing this on a weekend day. This is for theoretical planning purposes only, you can choose to start this process any time you like. I sometimes make the leaven in the am and begin bulk fermentation in the evening.
Extended Fermentation/Rising
Monday Night
- Mix leaven (10 minutes)
- Let leaven ferment before preparing dough (8 to 10 hours)
Tuesday Morning
- Mixing the Dough (10 minutes)
- Let dough rest (20 to 45 minutes)
Tuesday all day
- Bulk fermentation and turning (10 to 12 hours) depending on temperature between 55°F and 65°F. You will need to periodically put your hands on the dough, so plan to be around for the first couple hours and the last hour of fermentation.
Tuesday Evening
- Dividing and Shaping (45 minutes including resting time and final shaping)
Tuesday Overnight
- Final Rise (8 to 12 hours in the fridge)
Wednesday Morning
- Heating the oven, scoring and baking (1 hour)
- Cooling (2 to 4 hours)
In other words, this can really stretch out. Make sure you’ll have free time/will not be at work when it’s time to move on to the next step. Doing a long bulk fermentation and a long final rise mean that the process takes longer overall, but it will also mean that you don’t have to wait until the weekend to get a baked loaf, provided you’re an early riser. If you want to go for shorter fermentation times, you’ll need to be near your dough at more regular intervals, so if you have a 9 to 5 workday, just keep feeding your sourdough as you have been until Friday and then start this process as above.
Shorter Fermentation/Rising (italics denotes difference from above)
Monday Night
- Mix leaven (10 minutes)
- Let leaven ferment before preparing dough (8 to 10 hours)
Tuesday Morning
- Mixing the Dough (10 minutes)
- Let dough rest (20 to 45 minutes)
- Bulk fermentation and turning (3 to 4 hours at 78°F to 82°F). You’ll need to be around for this period of time.
Tuesday Afternoon
- Dividing and Shaping (45 minutes, including resting time and final shaping)
- Final Rise (2 to 3 hours at 75°F to 80°F)
Tuesday Evening
- Heating the oven, scoring and baking: 1 hour
- Cooling: 2 hours
This may seem like a lot of work. Most of it is just waiting (something we, the fermenters, are well-versed in). The first time is the most complicated, because there are things to learn and because you had to actually establish your sourdough starter from scratch first (in the future, you’ll just be pulling it out the fridge, feeding it for a day or two and then going to town). Just know that this is very likely to be the best homemade bread you’ve ever tasted, and that it will also be WAY better than the majority of bread you can buy even at nice bakeries. So stick with it, and definitely buy a copy of Tartine Bread.
Making Leaven for the Tartine Bread Country Loaf
- 1 tablespoon active starter (~20 g) RESERVE THE REMAINING STARTER*
- 200 ml 78°F filtered water
- 100 g all-purpose flour
- 100 g whole wheat flour
In a glass bowl, mix all ingredients with your hands until there are no lumps. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and get as much of the mix from your hands back into the bowl as possible. Cover with a kitchen cloth, and allow to rise for 8 to 10 hours at around 65°F.
When it’s ready, your leaven will look pretty much how your active starter did. You’ll see bubbles throughout the batter it will smell yeasty and milky. Probably my favorite tip from Tartine Bread (and I have many favorites) is to test the readiness of your leaven by dropping a teaspoon of it into a glass of room temperature water. If it floats, there’s sufficient CO2 and you’re ready to move on to the next step. If it sinks right away (it will sink eventually, even if it’s ready to go), give it a couple more hours to ferment before you test again and mix your dough.
Tomorrow, we’ll be mixing up the dough.
Start at the Start of Sourdough Starter School (Tartine)
- Get started with Step 1 of Sourdough Starter School.
- What your starter will look like after 24 hours of fermentation
- Step 2 (Days 3-7) – Stabilizing Your Starter
- Why You Should Do a “Low-proportion” Sourdough Feeding
- 4 Things to Make with Excess Starter
- Getting Ready to Actually Bake! Equipment and Starter Health Check
- Preparing the Leaven (You Are Here)
- Mixing the Dough and Bulk Fermentation
- Dividing, Shaping, Final Rise
- Baking and Cooling
- Tartine Bread Giveaway!
*The starter that doesn’t go into the leaven should be fed the way you’ve been feeding all along. This is now your established sourdough starter. Give it at least one more feeding. Once you see lots of bubbles again (8 to 12 hours) you can put it in the fridge for a week or more. We’ll cover maintenance and feed in more detail another day.
Ronda says
So my leaven didn’t work. I did leave it for longer than you recommended but it never floated. I am bummed. On the bright side, the extra starter is delicious. I live in New Orleans and have become addicted to sourdough crawfish pancake-crepes. I make the crepes and when I flip them, I add some feta cheese and sauteed crawfish. When they’re done I add hot sauce and my homemade red cabbage-jalapeno sauerkraut. Very, very good. But back to the leaven, any ideas on what I’m doing wrong? All the bubbling and pre-leaven stuff went well. It did get rather hot here in the last few days. Thanks, Ronda
Amanda says
Hi Ronda,
Unfortunately when you get to the leaven stage, the timing is important. Luckily, if your starter is still going, it’s easy to make another! You will need to shoot for the shorter end of all time ranges if it’s very warm, but generally warm temperatures are quite fine for sourdough.
I’m with you on the sourdough crepes! And your version sounds delightful!
Corinne says
Hi, I have some questions:
I have an active starter now which I feed every 24 hours (usually around 8 or 9 am) with 50 grams white-whole wheat flour mix and 50 grams of water after discarding 80%.
You say before making the leaven I should set aside 1 tablespoon of my starter and feed that as normal. When in the feeding cycle of my starter should I set a tablespoon aside?
And when I have fed that tablespoon, how long must I wait to take a tablespoon (20 grams) from that to make the leaven?
I feed my starter in the mornings, but I want to make the leaven of course in the evening so it can rise overnight.
Some advise would be much appreciated! It’s a bit confusing to me 🙂
Gillian Burnes says
Hi. Did you get an answer? I have the same question.
Kim says
Hi, after reading the Tartine Bread book and this blog post, the 1 TBS of starter will be taken out when you are ready to make your leaven, it is what you will use to make the leaven. The rest of the starter can be discarded (or shared with someone else who wants to try to make this recipe) and any left over leaven that you have will be your new starter. You will need to feed it daily just as you fed your original starter.
jen says
hi,
i have the same question as corinne. when in the starter’s cycle is it best to make the leaven?
thanks
Scott says
One thing that make me curious is this: the recipe asks us to take 1 TBSP of our starter, and add 200g water, 100g white flour, and 100g whole wheat flour. This yields over 400g of leaven. The dough only requires us to use 200g of this leaven, so any leftover leaven is “now our starter”. So I have two questions:
1) Why does the recipe have us make 400g+ of leaven when we could just make 200g? Is there a benefit in making extra leaven and using the excess as our new starter?
2) If we make extra leaven, and use the excess as our new starter, how does this work? Should we add it to our old starter? Or should we discard all of the original starter and only keep the excess leaven as our new starter? Which should we do, and why?
Kim says
Hi, I jaunt read through the instructions in the book, Tartine Bread, and the left over leaven is now your starter. You will feed it just as you did the original starter that you made. i.e. Once a day with the 50/50 flour blend.
Christine Hughes says
This isn’t good enough really is it? It’s very wasteful to begin with. Why would we want another starter to feed when we already have a good one to begin with? Like you said, you just “jaunt read” through the instructions and missed this, thus confusing your readers. As if sourdough baking wasnt complicatwd to begin with!
Amanda says
Hi Christine,
I have to admit I’m not totally clear on what you wrote here, but to reply to the original question, you make double so that you don’t have to start from scratch every time you bake. If you look at this series, it’s a several day process to build from scratch, whereas with the leftover starter, you can bake again the next day. You should never use all of your starter to bake, unless you have no intention of keeping the starter alive.
I’m not one of those people who feels strongly about keeping the same starter to pass down to my grandchildren, but the winter baking season for me include regular bakes, so I don’t want to have to build the whole thing again every time. It’s just easier.
If you’re having a rough day, I hope it gets better!
PS – I really think sourdough baking is simple! The only complicated thing about it is that it’s truly a slow food and our modern lives often make that a complication.
Victoria Vasys says
I agree, I’m confused as to why the recipe has you make twice as much leaven as required for the dough when you’ve already saved starter before you made the leaven. Seems like there’s an error in one of those measurements.
Kris says
I’ve been making this bread for awhile- I’ve gotten to the point where I’m adding some of my own little tweaks (like a drop of rosemary essential oil or toasted sesame, etc.) I always make two loaves and give one away. I NEVER throw out that excess leaven- I usually use 100 grams of both white & wheat. If there is extra I’ll throw it back in with the starter in my fridge. My bread has only gotten better except when I totally lost my starter (moved) and had to start all over again. Big issues (in my experience) water temperature, the container used to rest the leaven and of course room temperature. The quality of the flour is also a game changer. All of this varies with each individual kitchen so find out your perfect combination by practicing. Practice. I made a lot of ugly bread (croutons, French toast, bread crumbs, etc.)
Deborah says
Hi.. I LOVE your website.
My question is about the bulk rising portion of the shorter fermentation method. When you say in the shaping section that the dough needs to rest again there is nothing explaining exactly what that means. ? And is there any kneading that is supposed to happen w/this dough anytime? Thank you so much!
Kim says
Hi, first off, thank you so much for doing this series of instructions. I have had the Tartine Bread book for many years. I attempted the starter once then got so overwhelmed with the process that I did not try to actually bake the bread. I have been baking bread for many years, but Robertson’s method has always intimidated me. After recently visiting Tartine and tasting their amazing bread, I am determined to master this bread recipe!
My question is, do you notice a significant difference in flavor when you do the bulk fermentation overnight in the refrigerator as opposed to doing the 3-4 hour fermentation at a higher temp? I loved the flavor of the bread at the bakery. I loved that it was overly sour and tangy. Just wondering how significant the flavor difference is between the two methods of bulk rise. Obviously, the longer bulk fermentation overnight is a bit more time friendly when I host Thanksgiving and want to put delicious bread on the table! Thank you again for these wonderful instructions that make me feel like I can actually master this!
Nicole says
I made a leaven yesterday morning, i forgot about it and it’s been around 29 hours since i first mixed it. Is it still ok to use?
Amanda says
I’m guessing you’ll need to feed it one or two times before use, but otherwise, if it looks and smells okay, you’re good to go. A tough layer on top can be removed with no worries.
sumiko suenaga says
Hi. I live in Ottawa, Canada and I started to challenge making a sourdough bread since last month. Actually, I was following the other site; I followed to make starter majoring the right amount of flour, water and time period. After 5 days, that evening I prepare the leaven and let ferment for 8 to 10 hours over the fridge. But the leaven never floats, well, in the end, a tiny, almost a shape of string will, but not the majority. I have baked 3 times but, of course, always failed. Now looking at your site, I saw the photo of your leaven fermented in the bowl from the bottom (the other site does not have this) and I can now see clearly how it should look like before tested. I can now pin point the problem of my leaven. But following everything I read from the other site and your site (except I don’t have whole wheat flour so use just white flour. I don’t think this would make the difference in result. I have used spelt flour once to follow the other site and of course, it failed.) I use unbleached all-purpose flour sold in a bulk food store or prepacked flour of top brand. I have no idea why my leaven does not ferment as vigorously as in the photos. What is the difference between the all-purpose flour sold in US and Canada? Or the temperature? We had unusually cool and rainy summer but because of a couple of hurricanes are going through the US, it pushed warm air to the central east of Canada where I live, and it has been hot and muggy in the past 1 week and will be another week or so. I even left the leaven bowl outside for a couple of hours, it still does not become as your photo. Will you please give me an advice?
Amanda says
Hi Sumiko,
I can’t say exactly without watch your process, unfortunately, but here are some tips for things that people sometimes do unwittingly. Normally flour is “safe” meaning it won’t have been cooked or irradiated (which would prevent it from fermenting). Using white vs. whole wheat will change things a bit, but it won’t prohibit fermentation. If your flour is imported maaaaaybe it’s been irradiated, but it’s VERY unlikely.
Temperature is 100% important for virtually all fermentation. Warmer temperatures work best, but err on the side of leaving it in a warm place, rather than moving it around (which can push out the CO2, potentially).
The one other factor which could potentially be an issue is the water. Again, this is rare, but potentially the antibiotics in your water supply could be an issue. I would try to make sure you’re using filtered water. All of these are pretty unlikely, to be honest.
I would give it another try. Make sure you’re not moving it around a ton in between feedings. Make sure that you’re using filtered water that is roughly room temperature. Maybe switch your flour brand. Check it at different times (visually). It shouldn’t be sitting for too long or too short. Shorter time when warmer. Longer time when cooler.
I hope that helps!
Theresa says
Can the final rise be left in the refrigerator longer than 12 hours?